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A great question - to end a meeting or a week

by Scott Patchin February 20, 2012

It was a situation I had been in many times before. Presenting to a group (this being a group of students at Grand Valley State University) and enjoying the interaction. I was talking about my business/journey, talent management, and connecting back to their topics of diversity and ethics. I did what every speaker does during a session, I paused and asked "Are there any questions?". Quickly a hand shot up in the back from a student who had been engaged all night. Then he changed my week with one question:

"Through all of your startup, What are you most proud of?"

Know that my week had not started well, and I had been second guessing this commitment to speak. My mind quickly went to the faces of a team I had just been talking with that were bringing a different level of energy to their leadership. I thought of a friend who had recently shared he was adding a one on one with his regimen and using my scorecard. I thought of the energy my family had put into helping me get started. I am not sure what I shared, but it was only a portion of the great thoughts that entered my head.

The trajectory of my week changed at that moment.

I love this question. It makes people think of successes, of relationships they cherish, and of things in their lives that went right.

Try this at a meeting or offsite somtime with your team. I have even seen it done where people are asked before to bring in an artifact (picture, items, etc.) that identifies something they are proud of. It will lead to smiles and intimate knowledge of what makes people tick.

So as you end your next team meeting or find yourself getting mired down in a difficult week, take a couple of minutes to ponder and answer the question "What am I most proud of?"